Vladimir of Bulgaria

Vladimir of Bulgaria (845-) was the king of the First Bulgarian Empire from 889 to 893, succeeding Boris I of Bulgaria and preceding Simeon I of Bulgaria.

Biography
Vladimir of Bulgaria was born in 845. He was the son of King Boris I of Bulgaria, and was the brother of Duke Rasate of Wallachia and Duke Gavril of Dyrrachion, among many other siblings. Vladimir led the Bulgar army of his father in the 854 campaign against the Principality of Serbia, but Mutimir and his brothers captured Vladimir and 12 boyars after defeating him. Vladimir was later sent back to his father after he formed an alliance with the Serbs, and he succeeded his father as King of the First Bulgarian Empire in 889 when he retired to a monastery after a reign of 36 years. In 892 he allied with King Arnulf of Carinthia against Great Moravia, and he tried to reinstate paganism in Bulgaria and eliminate Christianity.He persecuted priests and destroyed churches, accusing them of being puppets of the Byzantine Empitre. These moves were supported by only a few boyars, and his father left his monastery to disinherit Vladimir. In 893, his father blinded him and sent him to a dungeon, and Simeon I of Bulgaria, his younger brother, succeeded him.